Following His resurrection, just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus left His earthly ministry in the hands of His disciples and gave them Two Commissions. The First Commission is to GO to every creature and MAKE BELIEVERS, which results ultimately with Christ living IN the BELIEVER. Whereas The Second Commission is to GO to every nation and MAKE DISCIPLES, which results ultimately with the BELIEVER living IN Christ or Living IN the Word.
The First Commission: GO to every CREATURE—Make BELIEVERS!
Mark 16:15–18 15 And He said to them, “Go INTO all the world and preach (kerusso – herald, proclaim) the gospel (the good news) to every CREATURE (kitsis – INDIVIDUAL of creation, not creation as a whole).
This First Commission of Christ is about focusing ministry FIRST on the INDIVIDUAL. THE HEART is the starting place of an entirely NEW LIFE, as the “old man” becomes a “new man,” as a born-again BELIEVER! It’s a new life of not only a change of INDIVIDUAL thinking, but also a change of INDIVIDUAL occupancy. No longer am I the sole occupant of my heart, but Christ has moved IN with me. This was His plan from the beginning, but until Christ, it remained a mystery. But now, not only is this mystery revealed TO the Saints, it is revealed IN them. Paul stated it this way:
Colossians 1:25–27 25 … I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory (the full manifestation) of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ IN you, the hope of glory. (NKJV)
“Christ IN you” is the first taste of an even greater glory to hope for, which ultimately is “you IN Christ,” also known as you “living IN the Word!”
As I have prayed and meditated on what “Living in the Word” actually means, the Lord has shown me there is a critical difference between Christ living IN me and me living IN Christ. The former is about me becoming a BELIEVER in Christ, having been pursued by Him, which has resulted in Christ living IN me. The latter is about me becoming a DISCIPLE of Christ, then pursuing Him, which will result in me living IN Christ (which is me Living IN The Word).
It’s important to remember that everything in the Kingdom of God works by FAITH, and faith works by LOVE (Gal.5:6) because God is LOVE (1 Jn.4:8). Therefore, agape (the God kind of) LOVE is the power source and motivation behind everything that God does (past, present, and future, Heb.13:8). The reality is that God loved the world and every person in it so much that He sent His Son to pursue them individually until they could trust Him enough (have sufficient faith) to allow Him to move in and live inside their heart. “For God so loved the world,” (Jn.3:16) indicates He loved every one of us from the outside in, but Agape love isn’t satisfied until it can love from the inside out. This is His constant desire for every person in the world! And what would your expected behavior be if you had this kind of heart-felt love and desire for someone? You would pursue them! And that’s exactly what God does, and every believer everywhere is an example of His successful pursuit! Hallelujah!
But God’s pursuit, unlike humans, is not physical, but purely spiritual. He has no attraction to anything of our flesh, but only to who we are on the inside. He loves our heart and spirit, that inner person He created us to be. But He has given us all free will to respond or not respond to His love advances, because love without a choice is not love at all. Once we finally respond and open our heart to Him, He deposits His agape love inside us. We then begin feeling this strange desire to pursue Him. It’s an amazing thing! But then free will arises, bringing with it a plethora of thoughts and fears to override our heart and overload our mind with logical reasons as to why we can’t or shouldn’t pursue The Lord with every fiber of our being.
But The Lord foresaw this problem. That’s why He created the Second Commission to gather the believers who find themselves marred up in the world and equip them collectively to pursue Christ by Living IN the Word.
Mark continues to describe the First Commission process of making BELIEVERS:
16 He who BELIEVES and is baptized will be saved (sozo); but he who does not believe will be condemned.
This baptism takes us back to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John. There were two realms in operation—physical and spiritual—water and the Holy Spirit. Sadly, many believers today undergo submersion in water, but fewer in the Holy Spirit. No wonder why so many believers today have saving faith in Jesus, but lack the power of the Spirit. Yet, Mark said supernatural signs WILL follow all believers who are BAPTIZED like Jesus, in both WATER AND THE SPIRIT!
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they WILL cast out demons; they WILL speak with new tongues; 18 they WILL take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they WILL lay hands on the sick, and they WILL recover.” (NKJV)
These five “WILLS” (the number of grace) are all outward signs that something supernatural has changed on the inside—Christ and the Holy Spirit are now living IN the believer. But these signs also testify of an outward change as well. That change is described by the English word “saved,” and even more by the Greek word “sozo,” which means to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, and make whole. Do you see how these outward signs are all expressions of the salvation which has occurred as a result of Christ living IN the BELIEVER? That’s why Jesus commissioned His disciples to GO to every CREATURE—Make BELIEVERS!
The Second Commission: GO to all NATIONS—Make DISCIPLES!
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He spelled out another command He wanted His disciples to do. Theologians have called this “The Great Commission.”
Matthew 28:16–20: 16 Then (after the resurrection) the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain (symbol of authority) which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the NATIONS (focusing on everything “foreign” to Christ and changing it by), baptizing them in (into) the name (changing their ethnicity or spiritual DNA from Adam to that) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them (obedience, by example) to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am WITH you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Jesus commanded His followers to MAKE DISCIPLES by giving them AUTHORITY to move from changing the individual to now changing the many by baptizing and assimilating the family of Adam into Christ. That old nature of DISOBEDIENCE is replaced by a new nature of OBEDIENCE by Living IN Christ and Living IN The WORD! Jesus concludes His commission by assuring them that He is WITH them always! He is not just standing beside or next to them, but totally surrounding them as they are living IN Him!
This is the DISCIPLE’S baptism: Not momentary immersion into water, but eternal immersion into the WORD Himself—into the nature, character and presence of the entire Godhead since they are all One IN Christ. As disciples, we are all One together IN Christ and IN the Godhead, living IN the WORD!
Remember: Christ is IN the BELIEVER and the DISCIPLES are IN Christ!